fredk

Yes, but be aware that the dye will severely dry out the leather and cause it to shrink. Maybe treat with NFO first, then the dye No, but then they didn't have wood dyes either. Leather dye was made of natural things and could be bought commercially as far back as the mid 1700s Once dry the wood stain is better than wood paints in that respect. Unless you chew on the wood you'll not get anything out of dried wood stain. These days oil and spirit wood dyes are used all round us ~ to recolour woods to look like other types, to just colour furniture legs and frames, et cetera

ya jus gotta luv a piece made with a story behind it. ~~~ well I do anyways Happy birthday to the gent. I knew an old chap like that. Everyday he visited a different friend and got his evening dinner with them. You never saw him again for about 4 weeks when it was your turn again. No-one minded at all.

Try using plastic pipettes. They are cheap. Can be bought in capacities of 0.2ml and upwards. I regularly use 3ml size. They can be cleaned out and reused and when too dirty they are cheap enough to dispose. example; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100PCS-0-2-3-5ML-Graduated-Pipettes-Disposable-Pasteur-Plastic-Eye-Dropper-YNUK/123660469990?hash=item1ccabd06e6:m:mIe58KaeefBBUdGtT-qMGlA

I'm thinking there is too much NFO in the leather which is preventing and sealant from working. Try a few coats of 'Pledge with Future Shine' ** floor polish which is actually a water-thin acrylic varnish. ** it may have a different name, Pledge keeps changing the name

oh, aye ye can. I have sewing tape measures just in metric or just imperial and some with both. Some tape measures which have both have the two scales on opposite sides of the material ie, front & back and some have the measures on each edge. When it comes to rulers I dislike the ones which have the measures on each edge but starting at opposite ends.

Is it a ready-rivet or a solid rivet peened over? an idea; if you are going to replace the strap; cut away the strap from under the rivets then you'll have a gap to fit bolt or wire cutters into to get at the stem of the rivet and cut though that Rivet a new strap on

3M 77 is just about as permanent you're going to get. I've used similar, but probably poorer, versions and its lasted. . . . well, its lasted. Another type of adhesive is the heat-activated iron-on sheet. example; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sizzix-Accessory-Adhesive-Iron-On-Sheet-100-Polyolefin-1m-Roll/263974872556?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 though you need to be very careful with your heat

The speed of light is equal to the time a traffic light turns green and when the guy behind you blares his horn at you Mike; here for by length wood is sold in 'metric foot' or meter. The metric foot = 300mm. By volume its sold in the cubic yard, cubic meter or cubic 'metric yard' which is a cubic yard plus about 10% An easy way to convert US leather ounces to metric millimeter is to multiply the oz by 4 and put in the decimal point in front of the last digit, eg 5oz x 4 = 20, put the point in and you get 2.0mm, 9oz x 4 = 36 = 3.6mm. You are in fact multiplying by 0.4 Converting from and to metric & imperial and back again can lead to serious problems. Thats what happened to one of the Space Telescopes. One group in the US built one part using US Imperial, the group in Europe used metric and both 'rounded' some of the digits in the size conversions thus when the telescope was assembled in space the parts fitted but the optics were ever so slightly 'out'. They had to do an in-space adjustment repair.

If its the whole letter ~ a very small paint brush If its the outline of the letter ~ a gel ink or a fine tip paint pen

nifty

I think your idea is sound. I would use Velcro for the closure system on the strap. Then 'one-size-fits-all'. If you think 5 oz [2mm] is too thin, line it with some thin suede or pigskin - I would do that anyway to give a smoother surface against the skin of the arm. Are the pockets for the shafts long enough?

Thanks for sharing the photos. Its so good see the factory preserved. Those gates are simply magnificient A. Its only on a forum like this that we enjoy looking at photos of an old factory! B, I can't say for Germany, but in the UK in the early years of the 20th century import taxes on goods could be as high as 75%. The sewing machine was a luxury item so was taxed at about 50% on imported ones. Thats why Henry Ford opened his first English factory in Manchester in 1917 - to get round the import taxation of 25% to 50% on Ford vehicles. Plus goods made in Britain and exported were given a tax relief. So it would make commercial sense for Singer to have a British factory. Also at that time Scottish steel and iron was superior to any in Europe and Scotland had a very big iron producing industry.

Try Copydex

I'm not exactly sure just what you did but usually when a thread breaks, go back about 3 stitches and just start sewing again. If you are doing two-needle saddler stitch then the broken thread will be locked into its holes by those three stitches. Just trim the broken thread off real neat. Glue on it helps but is not necessary with this method

There is or are formulas to work it all out but I do it another way. I cut the shape and size of the gusset piece, less the allowance for the skived and folded join, out of cardboard and use a fabric tape measure to measure round it. That gives me the front/base/back/across the top length for the inside of the leather that will be those sides. Then I just add how much I want the flap to come down over the front panel

again the difference. To most in the UK Capri means a car made by Ford, https://www.google.com/search?q=ford+capri&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBGB772GB772&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz_f7bxL3kAhUzoXEKHR-4D0gQ_AUIEigB&biw=1366&bih=625 or just maybe an island in the Mediterranean sea https://www.google.com/search?q=capri&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBGB772GB772&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz5Y30xL3kAhXuRxUIHZpHC7YQ_AUIEigB&biw=1366&bih=625 but I can't imagine anyone wearing either of those, with a belt or without!

Interesting. The OP doesn't say where he is located. Another difference between our countries. I've not yet come across any male trousers, of any sort, which will not take 1.75 inch [ 45mm ] wide belt. A lot of belts I made were in the 36 to 42mm widths [ 1.5 to 1.65 inches approx] with some to 1.75 and to 2 inch. 1.25 and under were rarely wanted except by medieval re-enactors

Not just a noob question. I've been wondering why as well. Perhaps its cos if you do the 'hole' end you'll end up with a hole too close to the end. On US belts the buckle end can sometimes be easier as they like to have removable buckles but in the UK our buckles are usually not removable I've shortened belts by chopping off the 'hole' end and adding on a metal or leather tip to cover up the one or two holes closest to the tip.

If you are thinking of making some belts for 'stock' and not-to-order I would make some in 1.25" and some in 1.75"

not really. I've done from 3/4 inch wide thru to 2.5 inch. Depends on what the customer wants

also, do not glue down nor sew the centre 1/2 inch

Try 1. dampen leather, not as wet as for moulding but as wet as for tooling 2. dilute the dye 3. dip dampened leather into diluted dye 4. leave leather in dye till dye soaks in, minutes not seconds 5. remove leather from dye, allow to partially dry 6. repeat 3, 4 and 5 as necessary until colour density is reached

With the mad rush over the Tandy Library website is running at a decent speed again. At least it was for me yesterday

On the matter of sand casting. I know it as 'oil sand'. I've used it for making belt ends amongst other things. The belt ends were made in pewter. I found this old picture of one I made a long time ago. The belt/strap end was copied from one found in a field. I made my original copy in layers of plastic card then packed oil sand under and on top of it. Split the oil sand mould, took out the plastic strap end, closed up the mould and poured in molten pewter through a pouring shaft hole. About 10 minutes later I split the mould and took out my metal strap end. The sand mould gets destroyed in taking out the metal strap end as some pewter is in the pouring hole and a vent shaft. But it only takes a few minutes to make the mould again

I've used various methods. 1. multiple coats of thinned paint 2. sealing with a floor varnish. You don't say where you are. In the US you can get a floor 'polish' sometimes called 'Pledge with Future Shine'** or a similar name. It is not a floor polish but a water-thin acrylic varnish. A few coats of this makes a good sealer. Then paint silver, then white. ** Astonish in the UK 3. Tippex / white out. A thin coat of this before the white paint. If you can use the roll of Tippex tape as it is more of a physical barrier